Attracting Attention for the Cause. The Reporting of Three Indices in the UK National Press

Indicators and indices (a collection of indicators into a single value) have been promoted for some time as convenient devices for the presentation of complex datasets to a more general audience. Examples of indices are the corruption perception index (CPI), human development index (HDI) and ecological footprint (EF). The research reported in this paper was designed to explore the extent to which the CPI, HDI and EF have been reported in UK national newspapers between January 1990 and December 2009, and whether there are differences between the indices in the pattern of reporting. Results suggest that reporting of the CPI was linked to the timing of reports issued by Transparency International. The same was partly true of reporting of the HDI and timing of release of Human Development Reports s by the UNDP. The EF has more reports than the CPI and HDI, and this is related in part to its greater flexibility and adaptability at more local (intra-UK) scales. The paper recommends that those creating such indices look beyond the methodological dimension and consider how best to make the index resonate with the media.     

The Global Science Panel on Population in Sustainable Development

The forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa (26 August – 4 September 2002) has been called by the United Nations to consider strategies toward sustainable development in all its dimensions. Hence, its mandate is broader than that of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the Rio Conference). Population issues have previously been discussed in a separate series of World Population Conferences (Bucharest 1974, Mexico City 1984, Cairo 1994). With no new World Population Conference scheduled for 2004 and Johannesburg having a mandate that explicitly includes social and economic aspects, population as a key component of sustainable development should figure prominently in the deliberations. Yet, after the third of four preparatory meetings for WSSD (which ended in New York on 5 April), population considerations are absent from the planned agenda. A plausible explanation for this absence is bureaucratic: in most countries inputs to Johannesburg are being prepared mainly by environment ministries that have little experience in dealing with population questions. There may also be political reasons for not wanting to discuss population issues in Johannesburg. But, arguably, sustainable development strategies that do not take into account the diversity and the dynamics of human populations will fail. This is one of the conclusions of the Global Science Panel on Population and Environment. The Panel is an independent body of international experts from the fields of population and environment that was organized by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), and the United Nations University (UNU). (Members of the Panel acted in their individual capacity, rather than representing their institutions.) After a ten‐month preparatory process, in April 2002 the Panel finalized a statement that summarizes its understanding of the role of population in sustainable development and outlines key policy priorities. The full text of this statement, titled Population in sustainable development, is reproduced below.     

Inequality Assessment by Probabilistic Development Indices

Social Indicators Research - This paper analyses the Human Development Index (HDI) time series from 2010 to 2017. An alternative index is studied, which combines the same components of the HDI by...     

Measuring the Well-Beings of the Developing Countries: Achievement and Improvement Indices

The paradigm of development in the recent days has been shifted from Per Capita Gross National Product (PCGNP) to Human Well-being. It has also been admitted broadly that PCGNP does not automatically transformed into human well-being. It has thus become common practice to use a range of socio-economic variables for measuring the human Well-being (quality of life) in a country. In order to measure the well-being of about 70 developing countries, this study widens the scope of the Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) introduced by Morris, by incorporating a number of social aspects of life. On the basis of these indicators, the achievements in the quality of life of these countries are analyzed in this study. An attempt is also made to compare the decadal improvements in their performances in respect of the quality of life over a period of 1960 to 1990. The study also attempts to analyze the relations between achievements and improvements of quality of life and achievements and improvements in terms of PCRGDP of the countries.     

Measuring Multidimensional Poverty According to National Definitions: Operationalising Target 1.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals

Social Indicators Research - The first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) tasks countries with eradicating poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions. This presents...     

Measuring Knowledge,Attitudes and Behaviours Concerning Sustainable Development among Tenth Grade Students in Manitoba

In this paper we present standardized measures of tenth grade students’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviours concerning sustainable development as those concepts are understood in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and we test the hypothesis that knowledge and favourable attitudes toward SD lead to favourable behaviours. Using a fairly representative random sample of 1,551 tenth grade students from the province of Manitoba, Canada, we crafted 3 indexes. There is a 20-item Index of Knowledge of SD with a good Cronbach alpha = 0.89, a 15-item Index of Attitudes Favourable Toward SD with alpha = 0.84 and a 15-item Index of Behaviours Favourable Toward SD with an alpha = 0.83. About 21% of the variation in our Behaviours Index scores could be accounted for by our Knowledge Index and Attitudes Index scores.     

论可持续发展要求下的人与人公平

本文从社会伦理和实践行为两个方面 ,探讨了人与人公平的基本原理和行为标度 ,提出了衡量社会公平的理论模型和实践准则。旨在通过和谐人与人之间的相依关系 ,以保障人类社会的可持续发展。     

On Measuring Segregation in a Multigroup Context: Standardized Versus Unstandardized Indices

Social Indicators Research - There has been little discussion about the consequences of using standardized, rather than unstandardized, segregation measures when comparing societies with different...     

The Importance of Variables in Composite Indices: A Contribution to the Methodology and Application to Development Indices

The paper examines the issue of weights and importance in composite indices of development. Building a composite index involves several steps, one of them being the weighting of variables. The nominal weight assigned to a variable often differs from the degree to which the variable affects the scores of the overall index. The newly suggested notion of importance is based on the idea that an important indicator, if omitted from the index, causes large changes in countries’ results. We propose a method of measuring the importance and apply it to inequality variables in composite indices of development. The results show a low importance for most inequality variables, and for some of them, a large discrepancy between the nominal weights and the importance. We argue that the importance of variables should be considered in the process of index construction. This may imply a modification of the index when there is a large discrepancy between the nominal weights and importance and when the importance of some variables is extremely low. Whether any such modification is justified must be decided within the context of the particular index.

     

建立可持续发展的西部大开发战略

中国人口资源、环境、经济、社会等因素的特点,决定了可持续发展的落脚点最终在西部地区。中国可持续发展要以西部大开发为依托,建立可持续发展的西部大开发战略要根据西部实际、结合我国国情,借鉴他国区域开发经验,采取相应对策。     

东北地区农业可持续发展的道路选择

东北地区农业可持续发展具有雄厚基础和巨大潜力,在东北振兴和中国粮食安全中具有重要战略意义,但东北农业在发展过程中也存在农产品市场竞争乏力,农业资源遭到破坏及农民收入增长缓慢等问题,本文在此基础上提出东北地区农业可持续发展的道路选择:转变发展思路,调整产业结构;发挥科技力量,发展现代农业;整合资源优势,促进全面发展;发展国际合作,开辟周边市场。     

贫困地区可持续发展问题研究──新疆环境与贸易问题对贫困地区的影响

本文通过新疆贸易与环境的辩证关系, 分析了阻碍贫困地区可持续发展的主要问题, 指出如何通过贸易与环境的发展有效地促进贫困地区可持续发展进程。     

Social Monitoring and Reporting: A Success Story in Applied Research on Social Indicators and Quality of Life

From its beginnings research on social indicators was not primarily considered as pure, but rather applied research in terms of the regular monitoring of and reporting on quality of life. Thus, the successes—but eventually also failures—of social indicators research may first of all be visible in its most important field of application. Social monitoring and reporting activities, which can be traced back to the early 1970s provide quantitative information and empirically based analytical knowledge on well-being and progress in a single society or groups of societies to be used for different purposes, including policy making. Providing an overview over the variety of social monitoring and reporting projects emerging from social indicators research is supposed to be important with a view to form a more solid fundament for present and future discourses and initiatives in the field of measuring and monitoring well-being and progress. The article looks back to this field of applied social indicators research and—with a focus on Europe—identifies patterns and recent trends in this sort of activities. By looking forward, it finally discusses selected issues that are considered to be crucial for further improvements in this field.     

南北关系中的人口与可持续发展问题

从全球政治经济关系角度论述了人口与可持续发展之间的关系 ,指出尽管我国十分重视人口与可持续发展之间的联系 ,但国际社会对这个问题重视不够。第一 ,在联合国有关环境的会议及《2 1世纪议程》等环境或可持续发展多边协议中 ,人口问题没有得到适当的重视 ;第二 ,联合国有关人口的会议也没有认真讨论和对待人口与可持续发展之间的关系 ,目前的国际人口政策也不可能有效地解决全球人口与可持续发展之间的矛盾 ;第三 ,对人口与可持续发展问题的忽视与南北国家围绕人口与环境问题之间的斗争、以及国际学术界对人口增长与可持续发展关系理论认识分歧有关。     

论可持续发展原则与区域开发

可持续发展已经成为当代社会经济发展的基本原则,它对区域开发提出了新的要求,即人类的区域开发活动必须遵循与自然生态系统相协调的原则,区域开发应该具有全局性、科学性、前瞻性、系统性和稳定性。为了在区域开发中贯彻可持续发展原则,就要树立新的环境资源价值观,扩大对资源范围的认识,建立合理的资源配置机制,保证资源开发的可持续性,才能实现区域经济与生态环境的协调发展。     

Sustainable Housing in the Urban Context: International Sustainable Development Indicator Sets and Housing

Housing, an essential aspect of quality of life, is also significant for sustainable development (SD). All of the major international statements on SD refer to housing or settlement strategies. However, indicator sets derived from these statements often fail to include good indicators of sustainable housing. This article outlines the conceptualisation of SD and housing from the international statements. It proceeds by describing the international indicator sets which have been constructed based on these policy statements. International organisations such as the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU) have all produced indicator sets. However, this article contends that housing is an underdeveloped indicator and calls for more attention to be paid to the importance of aspects of housing for SD and the measurement of progress towards it via social indicators.

青海省人口与可持续发展

本文通过对青海省人口条件, 以及由于人口增长的无限性和生态空间支持能力的有限性而引起的两个重大矛盾： 一个是人口再生产物质资料再生产之间不平衡不协调、一个是人口———资源———环境之间原有的生态平衡受到破坏的分析, 指出了青海省国民经济发展必须把各项经济指标与人口的有关指标相结合,形成一个有机整体, 只有这样本省经济才可能得到持续发展,并针对此提出若干措施     

Measuring Aspects of Mobility,Polarization and Convergence in the Absence of Cardinality: Indices Based Upon Transitional Typology

Social Indicators Research - Social Mobility, Equality of Opportunity, Polarization, Convergence and Segmentation can each be construed as describing a particular transitional process between...